Pages

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Sabah

Run by Sabah Wildlife Department, Lok Kawi is an amusing park, with well tended animals and happy visitors. The park covers an area of 280 acres of land with more than 100 species of animals. Attached to the park is a botanical garden set up by Sabah Forestry Department.

The wildlife park is 25 km away from Kota Kinabalu City Centre. The best way to visit the park is by joining local tour. Taking taxi or rent a car might be a good option as well. The road access to the park is well maintained.

This is the third time we went to the park, and, it's getting better. We really like the animals there, they simply looked happy with abundant food in front of them.

If you ask how to define "happy"? We would like to relate "happy" to "active". Many animals were active in their exhibits during our visit. Borneo pygmy elephants that were showing their talents simply like they were on "Lok Kawi Idol's Show", sun bears, climbing, Malayan tigers, deers, ostrich, cassowary, as well as the otters that moving around, and ever swinging Orang Utans and Gibbons.

A deer-on-a-bath (upper left), Borneo pygmy elephant was trying to move as close to the visitors as possible (upper right), baby orang utan saying "hi" (lower left), and a naughty sun bear was trying to turn around at the corner of a climbing toy.

"Would they ever stop swinging?" That's the question that you might ask the gibbons (upper left). Otters family have a nice pool to swim, as well as plenty of grassland to rest after a tiring swim (upper right). Banteng (lower right) and Ankole laid peacefully under the shades of trees and huts, looking at each others, like saying, "hey dude, see, we are so popular over here...."

Never forget, the silent hunter in stripes. They will only be super electrified by food. So, don't miss the great show on the tiger's feeding time at 2:05 pm.

Proboscis, the species of monkey that only available in Borneo, are really well fed in the park (left). Ringtail Lemurs of Madagascar beside the Proboscis keep talking to each other.

A thumb up to the aviary, as well as the exhibits for the serval, sun bear, malayan tiger, gibbon, and otter. The reptile house is quite small. However, it is clean and well maintained. The canteen is small with little choice of food that is just enough for a light snack.

Ticket counter (upper left) and canteen (upper right) of the park. Almost all the exhibits have their own roofed observation platform (lower left). The observation platform for serval is really unique.

Reptile house (left) and the entrance of the aviary (right).

Our photo inside the aviary.

Many species of birds available in the aviary.

Betty and her sister, Katty at the elephants' exhibit.

The botanical garden located at the end of the wildlife park. The garden was not so organized. Shaded by the forest canopy, the plants there were not thriving. The only better part was the fernarium. The ferns were well grown during our visit.

The garden assigned for ferns.

Our advice, apply some mosquito repellent before you visit the park. Try your best to be early, to avoid stinging sunlight. Sufficient water supply, hat, and sport shoes guarantee a more comfort visit.

The park opens 9:30 am - 5:30 pm everyday. Entrance fee for adult and visitors below 18 years old are RM10 and RM5 respectively for Malaysian. For non-Malaysian are RM20 and RM10 respectively. Entrance is free for senior citizen above 60 and handicapped visitors.

Please plan your visit as the animal shows are on 11 am and 3:15 pm. The animal feeding sessions span from 10:20 am to 2:35 pm, not to miss is the feeding of Malayan Tigers at 2:05 pm.

As a full round of the park might takes few hours, a light snack at the canteen might be a good idea. On the way back from the park, you can spare some time on Sabah State Museum (will take around 1 hour 30 minutes for a complete tour) and get your feet wet at Tanjung Aru beach on your way back to your hotel. A dinner at Tanjung Aru is a good idea.

After the close touch with the nature, let's go back to city centre for the food around KK.

Popular Posts About Malaysia

Two Days One Night Trip to Cameron Highlands ||
The road to Habu Boh Tea Plantation is very challenging, especially when the small hilly road is full with vehicles from both ways. We have to be patient and prepare to give ways...

Kellie Castle- an uncompleted masterpiece ||
It was a symbol of richness, a sign of power, a home to an European family and, of course, joy of a father to his son, and love of a husband to his wife. Today, the mansion in Batu Gajah again brought us back to the British Colonial Era...

Shopping in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah ||
There are several shopping centres in city centre, all within walking distance. Along the seaside, starting north from Suria Sabah Shopping Centre, we can move southward to Wisma Merdeka...

Farm in the City ||
At first, we couldn't believe where the farm is- Equine Park, Seri Kembangan, behind Giant Hypermarket...Well, as the name portrayed- Farm in the City, it is really a farm right in the middle of modern concrete buildings and highways...

Batang Ai Longhouse Resort ||
The only way for us to travel through the huge lake formed by the building of the dam was using a boat prepared by the hotel management. As we visited the hotel during weekday in the middle of May, we were the only visitors of the resort...

Popular Posts About Other Countries

Yangmingshan National Park ||
To avoid dissapointment of not able to get onto a crowded bus, we shall try to hoop onto the shuttle bus at the first stop. The shuttle bus is going around the park in clock wise direction. So if we missed one site behind, we need to go a whole way round the park to get there...

Shopping, Food, and Accommodation in Jogya ||
Our third day in Yogyakarta- shopping and roaming around the city were our main programs. Our first 2 days itinerary is listed in our first day of our trip. We spent the whole morning roaming around Malioboro Road- starting from Malioboro Mall to...

Trip to Danang- the Third Largest City in Vietnam || We would advise to stay somewhere near to Tran Phu Street and Bach Dang Street. This is where most of the attractions and shopping area located. Many hotels are available along these two streets. We could get a taxi or rental car...

Taipei Zoo and Maokong Mountain ||
We stayed in the zoo for about 4 hours, twice longer than our initial plan. But couldn't help, the zoo was like a big magnet for us...

Dengfeng Shaolin Temple and Guanlin ||
Surrounded by Songshan (嵩山) or Song Mountain, the view there was stunning. Built in year 495, the temple has been established for more than 1500 years. Legend says the temple was the birth place of kungfu.Driven by the expectation to see old temples and sifus with awesome kungfu, we met with the biggest disappointment of our tour...

From Malaysia

Malaysia hosted the 29th SEA Game and championed with 145 golds. Let two of our best badminton players of all time- Rashid Sidek and Foo Kok Keong tell you the story of Malaysia Boleh!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslim friends! In Malaysia, Aidilfitri is celebrated nationwide. If you are happened to be in Malaysia, please join us to celebrate the festival!